


Every Rose Has It's Thorn

by killxrqueen



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Conflict of Feelings, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hydra (Marvel), Hydra is back, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Idiots in Love, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Self-Indulgent, Swearing?, Tony Stark Has A Heart, but goes through all the movies, do enjoy, infinity stones aye, it's going to be long, reader needs a break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-06-26 18:22:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19773817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killxrqueen/pseuds/killxrqueen
Summary: After The Battle of Sokovia had left you on the brink of death, you went to London to recover and get back on your feet before you could rejoin the team. Adjusting back to your normal life isn't easy, especially when your newest housemate at the compound is none other than Bucky Barnes. Will your slowly evolving friendship stop at just being friends, or will it turn into something more? And will whatever kind of relationship the two of you do establish survive the danger that lurks around every corner?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I promise I'll try to shorten the chapters but this is just an introductory chapter so I felt it needed to be longer to get the ball rolling. Another lovely idea of mine that has been swirling around in my drafts for ages, finally decided to put it out. Hopefully y'all enjoy and feel free to let me know if you do enjoy (or not, I won't be mad!)

_ Home _ . Home. It felt so nice to finally be on your way back home after being away for almost a month. A month was too long and felt like forever after the battle in  Sokovia that involved you fighting alongside Earth’s mightiest heroes, also known as The Avengers to take down an evil Tin Man known as Ultron. Your team had won, of course, but there was the small fact that you were slightly injured. Well more like you had gotten shot in the chest and abdomen more than once, and you lost so much blood you nearly died in a foreign country. It wouldn’t have been your worst Tuesday night though.  However Tony hadn’t known or even seen you throughout the fight, so he had no idea what happened in the slightest until Steve, the only other person who was worse than Tony when it came to this sort of thing, had found you barely conscious in the Sokovian streets just as the city was about to fall.

After the necessary surgeries to save your life and acceptable recovery time in the compound (Tony absolutely despised hospitals and would NOT allow you to recover in “such a boring and old person place”), Tony had then sent you to London for a month for more relaxing time. Despite being incredibly thankful and grateful (as you were every time Tony did something grand for you), and under different circumstances you’d waste no time hopping on a plane to take your dream vacation, but in this situation, you felt more like a child being sent to her room for misbehaving at the grocery store. 

You were one of the few people who didn’t think twice about telling Tony “no” because you spent your teenage years doing the exact same thing and had no problem doing so now that you were an adult. You told Tony sternly that you didn’t want to go and how you’d rather stay home around your friends to recuperate. The only reason you caved into going was because of a rare moment of true emotion from Tony. 

“Kid.” Tony began, looking you straight in the eyes. You raised your eyebrow at him as a rebuttal to that nickname despite you being well into your twenties.

“Yeah you’re still a kid to me, you always will be.” Tony continued. “Listen, I’m not good at these heart to heart speeches. That’s why Pepper always talked you through a lot when you were a teenager.” You laughed hearing that, knowing how true that was. You never considered Tony a father figure. A cool uncle who lets you eat Doritos and drink Coca-Cola at 10:00 at night, but you considered Pepper the mother you never had. Even though when you were  younger she was just Tony’s assistant, that never stopped her from talking and spending time with you, she never made you feel like a job.

“ Anyway back to what I was saying, seeing you lay there in Captain Lame Ass’s arms practically lifeless, it broke me. You were practically dead and..” he paused and took a deep breath. “And there was nothing I could do. I already swore to myself to never let anything happen to you ever, and seeing you there, unconscious,  thready pulse barely if not breathing, I knew I failed you.” Tony finished and took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. 

You sniffled and wiped your eyes and nose with your sleeve, completely unaware you were crying as you were listening to Tony. You leaned over and side hugged him.

“You didn’t fail me Tony...god you never have you never will.” you whispered comfortingly and he laughed half-heartedly. 

“I couldn’t even keep you safe during a battle in which we lost Bruce too. I don’t have too good of a score right now kid.” You rolled your eyes as he said that, and you sat up straight in your bed as he had come in and woken you up during an afternoon nap.

“Tony you’ve kept me safe and out of danger since I was 8 years old. That’s incredible. I’m a big girl now, this was my own mistake. What happened to me was my own doing, I wasn’t paying as close attention as I should’ve and I got myself hurt. But look, I’m okay now. I’m alive and I have this really cool scar.” You smiled brightly at him. “And, if it makes you feel any sense of satisfaction, I’ll go to London like you asked.”

Tony’s head popped up and he looked at you. “You will?! I knew you’d come around!” he told you as he pinched your cheeks like an overbearing aunt does to a 5 year old. “You leave tomorrow so get to packing!” Tony exclaimed as he stood up and waltzed out of your room. You couldn’t help but laugh as you got up and started packing your bags for your month long trip.

You were now on the plane home and you were almost fully asleep when the pilot announced to be prepared for landing. You sat up comfortably and buckled your seatbelt up and you smiled wide to yourself, the feeling of excitement coming over you. You were SO happy to be back in The United States, to be back in New York and to be back with your family. You couldn’t wait go see everyone. 

The plane landed safely and despite the  middle aged lady who sat towards the front clapping as it did, you’d say your flight went well. You got off the plane and walked through the terminal, collecting your luggage. As soon as you methodically grabbed all of your many items, you began walking towards what was seemingly the entrance to the airport. You knew to keep an eye out for Clint, who texted you the previous night letting you know that he would be your chauffeur. You scanned the area for your dirty blonde-haired friend until something in the corner of your eye caught your attention. You turned your body  to the right to see what, or who, had caught your  eye. You squinted your tired eyes to see that the crazy person who caught your attention was none other than Clint Barton himself, holding what looked like a homemade sign.

You curled your lips into a smirk and began jogging over to him giggling like a madman. “Clint!” you shouted as you approached your friend. Your eyes immediately went to the sign he was holding, and he had a goofy grin plastered on his face.

“Welcome back from prison Clara!” the sign read in giant purple letters with pictures of you with photoshopped jail bars on them. You laughed hysterically at the creative sign, appreciating your friends sense of humor.

“Welcome back from prison?!  Who’s idea was this, yours or Sam’s?” you asked between laughs as you could hardly contain yourself because of the sign. You set your luggage down to hug him tight. Clint had bear hugged you back, spinning you around. 

“It was a combination of both of our unique talents. A team effort truly. Nat had to hardcore stalk your Instagram and Facebook accounts for pictures that would look behind the bars.” Clint explained as he set you down and grabbed some of your bags. “Jeez did you bring back the entire city of London with you?” he asked as he began heading towards the exit with you behind him, dragging the rest of your luggage.

You just shrugged your shoulders following him. “Needed to bring you guys home some souvenirs. Suppose I got carried away?” You asked sarcastically and you heard Clint laugh as he walked outside to his car parked in the “no parking zone” spot with a sign right in front of his car. You rolled your eyes at the obvious Clint move and laughed softly because you weren’t even surprised. This is absolutely a move Clint would pull.

You looked up at the clear sky and took in the sun shining on the beautiful June day. You always loved days like this, not a cloud in the sky with a gentle but not overbearing breeze, the wind blowing through your hair. You took it all in as you stood in front of the open trunk of Clint’s car, not paying any attention to your surroundings as you soaked in the day, soaked in your home, feeling the happiness fill you up.

You were brought out of your day dreams as you felt Clint clap your right shoulder, startling you. You jumped quickly and shook your head. “Shit sorry, was enjoying the weather.” You mumbled, embarrassed at your ability to space out at any given moment. You  threw your bags in the trunk and slammed it shut accidentally, not realizing your own strength. You walked around to the  drivers side, sneaking past Clint who was responding to a text message. He saw what you were trying to do and stopped you before you could get in. 

“Ah ha  ha nice try killer queen, but not this time.” he pushed you away from the door as he hopped in. You grumbled and pouted over to the passengers side.

“Yanno, Killer Queen would be an epic superhero name.” you mentioned as you buckled in and turned on the radio.

“It does suit you, but you know Tony doesn’t want you having an official l name. Puts you too much in the public eye.” Clint looked at you with a knowing look. You understood what he meant and you nodded your head knowingly, understanding he was right.

“I know, but I’ve been an official part of this team since 2012, I just think it’s time I’m officially branded with a cool name.” You said aloud, your thoughts coming out and Clint just chuckled at your statement.

“What you think and what Tony thinks are two totally different things. Besides, you know how protective he is over you. Especially considering it’s not 100% clear too...” Clint began and you just silently nodded, not wanting to continue THAT conversation. So instead, you looked out the window at the moving landscape before you.

“ So tell me bub,” you smirked at Clint, knowing he hates the nickname you and Natasha gave him years ago. “What did I miss while I was on vacation?”

He rolled his blue eyes and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “Honestly? Not much. After what happened in  Sokovia , it’s been pretty quiet for us.”

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion at how that’s even remotely possible, but elected to ignore it. While you were away, you hadn’t had too much business talk with the others, a direct order from not only Tony but Steve too. He made sure to use his “Cap voice” when telling you and the others. That didn’t mean you didn’t try to wrestle information out of those who did call you, mainly Wanda or Sam. They never spilled much to your dismay. “Well, was there at least any news about Thor or Bruce’s whereabouts?” you asked hopefully. 

This time, Clint just shook his head slowly. “Not a single thing. We tried to track  Bruce’s jet but it was still in stealth mode and at this point most likely ran out of power, and it’s best to just let Thor do his thing...”

You just sighed at what he said and nodded, not knowing what to reply with honestly. “I suppose you’re right. Anything exciting at least happen while I was away? Did Sam find his hidden phone charger that I meticulously hid so he couldn’t find it right away?” You mused, proud of your parting prank on Sam.

“Oh yes he did and I’m positive you’ll hear all about that when you see him.” Clint told you and you just let out a laugh that came deep from your throat. “Oh yeah!” Clint suddenly exclaimed as he remembered something clearly important. “We had someone new move in!”

You turned down the radio down, as you were interested in who your new housemate was. “Yeah? Who decided to join the Island of Misfit Toys?” you laughed amusedly. 

“It’s Steve’s friend from once upon a time! Bucky yeah! Steve and Sam finally tracked him down and brought him to the compound. Guess they figured a way from keep him from going all  robo cop on us. He’s pretty messed up from all the stuff Hydra did to him, but he’s doing good there. Been there for about 3 weeks now, a quiet fellow but not an asshole, and I don’t blame him for being quiet.” Clint explained and you listened intently. 

You knew who Bucky was, hell you and Sam have been helping Steve try to find him after you three had your encounter with The Winter Solider back in Washington D.C the previous year. You, Steve and Sam worked in secret to try and find him. You used your computer skills to hack into various global security camera and databases to even attempt to string breadcrumbs together, and you assumed either they got a hit or something miraculously fell into their lap. You hadn’t realized you went silent and got wrapped up in your thoughts again until you heard Clint clearing his throat which brought you back into reality.

“Hey...Steve’s doing well too. Very well. I’m sure you knew that though, he probably called you every night.” Clint sent a knowing smirk your way and you playfully rolled your eyes. “He’s happy you’re coming back. He won’t admit it but Sam let it slip that he’s been counting the days until you came back.” You couldn’t help but smile wide at that thought.

At this point in time, you and Steve were practically inseparable, the two of you have been through hell and back together for close to three years. After  The Battle of New York, you had gone with Steve to Washington D.C so you could get better trained now that you were an official member of the team and he agreed to help train you. In a nonofficial exchange of talent, you agreed to help him adjust to the 21 st Century and gave him pop culture classes. The two of you had spent almost every minute together, hell you two had even lived in the same apartment building on the same floor, and had become very close. Too close. Close enough that feelings you would NEVER admit too or act upon began to form.  You absolutely DREADED having a crush in your adult life, you hated going down that road again. But you kept it to yourself and never told a soul.  But, that didn’t stop few friends (Sam, Nat and Clint) from figuring it out, but they swore they would never say anything. Despite any buried feelings you’d have for him, you trusted Steve and would follow him into any war or battlefield, and he would do the same for you. The platonic sense of trust until the very end you two had for another was too important to you to ever give up.

The rest of the car ride back to the compound was spent either chit chatting with Clint about your adventures in London or was filled with bad karaoke to the classic rock channel, the music Tony had brought you up on, and it was such a good way to ease back into the normalcy of your life, albeit for a little bit of time.

When Clint had pulled into the elongated driveway, your eyes lit up with excitement and you smiled wide. You watched out the window with happiness, even though nothing had obviously changed. The grass had been cut short but it made the outside lawn look nicer, like real people  inhabited the place, it made the compound look  _ homely _ . 

Once Clint had parked his car, you got out of the  passengers seat a bit too quick because excitement had consumed you that it caused you trip. Clint had noticed and walked around to help you, all while laughing at your expense.

“Easy  there sport. Didn’t realize we had such uneven concrete compared to our English Brothern.” he joked as he helped stand you up. You rolled your eyes playfully and laughed along with him, walking around to the trunk to take out your many bags and bring them inside. Clint joined you and stopped you as you threw a smaller one to the ground. 

“Go inside Clara, you have people waiting for you. I got this old sport.” he told you as he shot you an encouraging wink. You smiled your thanks and dug your keys out of your purse and unlocked the grey front door rather quickly.

If you were being honest with yourself (and you usually were), as much as you wanted to catch up with everyone, you really missed your own bed and your cozy room. You just missed the comforting feeling your own bedroom offered you, the way your worn in bed molds to your body and makes you feel comfortable and safe. Your bedroom was always your safe haven and always made you feel safe. 

As you strolled inside, you were immediately greeted by a hug from behind, causing you to stumble back a few steps. The hug was loose and you grinned to yourself and turned your body around to return the hug.

“Wanda my dear hello!” you practically squealed. You had spent some brief time with her before you left, but once you did leave, she made sure to give you a phone call every day and you became closer that way. Because of this, you had grown to see her as a younger sister. “How are you settling in, everything going alright? Those boys aren’t giving you a hard  time are they?” you asked and a hint of sarcasm laced your voice, but the questions themselves were serious.

Wanda just giggled and shook her head. “They’ve been more than  fine, I am really enjoying it here. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m feeling more at home.” the girl assured you and you sent her a warm smile.

You clapped her shoulder softly. “well I’m so glad to hear that! We’re truly a dysfunctional family around here, but we get by.” you joked as you walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. You crouched down to get eye level with a lower shelf looking for something to drink. As much as you enjoyed tea in London, you missed your fizzy American pop, especially Dr. Pepper. You quickly pulled a can out from the fridge and opened it, taking a refreshing sip. You let out a dramatic “ ahhh ” to which Wanda laughed. 

“That good Clara?” she raised an eyebrow and you  just nodded, your mouth too full of fizz to answer. 

You swallowed and sent a big  cheesey smile to your friend. “Absolutely! Missed these unhealthy suckers! You ever had one?”

Wanda shook her head no slowly. “No, we didn’t have,” she reached over to turn the can label towards her so she could read the name, “Dr. Pepper in  Sokovia . Plus, Sam said if I, or anyone, touched your drinks, you’d have their head.”

You curled your lips upward, letting them rest in a smirk, and turned to grab another full can from the fridge. “For reference, Sam isn’t allowed to touch my food or drinks, you’re more than welcome too, however.” you chugged the rest of what was left in  your can, and slid the unopened one over to Wanda. “Anyway, I should go start unpacking. I’ve got a month’s worth of shit to unpack, literally and emotionally.” you laughed to yourself.

Wanda raised her can as a parting gesture. “We’ll catch up later Clara, I do want to hear all about London!” You blew her a kiss and began trudging towards the door where Clint had left your luggage when heard someone start descending down the stairs.

“I, too, would love to hear all about London.” you heard come from behind you, and you smiled wide to yourself once the voice reached your ears. You quickly turned around and ran towards the stairs. Once you reached the staircase, you were greeted by the person you’ve been waiting so long to see, who had a smile so wide it was almost a reflection of your own. 

Steve was standing there grinning wide, in all of his Adonis glory, wearing a fitting grey t-shirt and a pair of jeans, both which he looked illegally good in. But you heart beat increased slightly, because that was your body’s natural reaction to seeing Steve. 

Before you could get lost in your thoughts, you approached your blonde Greek God friend with open arms. “Stevie!” you squealed much higher than you had anticipated, but you didn’t care as you jumped into his waiting arms. You wrapped your legs around his toned waist and your arms around his neck, hugging him tight. This has been the longest you two had gone without seeing each other, and you were ecstatic to see him again. 

Steve spun you around hugging you as you buried your face in his neck, a permanent smile plastered on your face, one that’s reserved for Steve. Nobody could ever make you smile as much as Steve. Sure, other people can make you laugh and with laughing a smile follows naturally, but the way you smiled around Steve was completely different and had different meanings behind it. 

You lifted your head up from his neck and quickly kissed his cheek, something you did casually and often, so it wasn’t seen as a special gesture, but you still enjoyed doing it. Steve set you down and opened his mouth to say something to you, but just as he was about to, Sam came walking down the stairs behind him.

“Damn, am I invisible here or has my handsome face completely blinded you?” Sam joked and you ran up and hugged him just as tight as you did Steve, almost knocking Sam over.

“Hey come on now, you know you’re my number one guy, and way more handsome than those London men.” you winked as you let go of him. You met Sam back in Washington D.C last year when Steve did, and from the moment you two talked, it was a bonded friendship. He was the only one to ever match up to your level of sarcasm, and you were thankful because with your sarcastic upbringing, to have someone match your intellect level of it was a blessing. The three of you have been an inseparable team since D.C, both on and off the battlefield. “You know I missed you,  you big baby.” you laughed as you stepped off the stairs. 

“Yeah  well I guess I missed you too Clara, just wasn’t the same without you here. It was quiet, peaceful, I didn’t have to be on my guard and ready with a comeback. It was nice.” You rolled your eyes as he said that and just shook your head laughing. “In all seriousness, it was weird without you here, don’t almost die and go away for another month, it was dyer than the desert here man, who else am I supposed to mess around with, Clint?” 

“Well, I’m back now and you’ll be conducting the smart-ass train soon enough.” Sam laughed and patted your back and you heard Steve clear his throat. You didn’t notice he went back up the stairs, and when you went to look for him, saw him walk back down the staircase. You also hadn’t noticed that standing right next to him was another man, someone you recognized but hadn’t met before, but as soon as you looked at him, you swear you felt your heart stop in that moment. You were met with the most beautiful, clear blue eyes you had ever seen in your lifetime. You had to look away because you felt heat in your neck travel north to your face and you didn’t want to introduce yourself when you were blushing like a madman. 

“Clara, I’m sure Clint told you what had happened while you were away this past month.” Steve started explaining, not noticing your battle to suppress the giggle caught in your throat that threatened to escape at any moment. You cleared your own throat trying to get rid of it and just nodded as a reply.

“Great!” Steve clapped his hands together. “So, then Clara, I would like to introduce you formally to Bucky.” Steve beamed and your head shot up. Oh! That’s Bucky, THE Bucky, who you spent the better half of a year helping Steve track down. He looks different than from your last encounter. More, human. More, alive. You tried not to study him, and instead you walked over and smiled softly and extended your hand gently to him. 

“It’s so nice to finally meet you Bucky.” you told him sweetly but not overly so. He hesitantly grabbed your hand after a moment and shook it firmly.

“ Likewise Miss. Stark.” he replied quietly, not looking at you. He was looking directly past you. Odd, just a moment ago you swore he was looking straight into your soul. You brushed it off and giggled softly. 

“Please do call me Clara, unless we’re dealing with formalities, which in that case I do apologize James.” you told him and winked at him to let him know you weren’t being serious about the last part. 

“Bucky will be just fine.” he again said quietly, but this time he looked at you, those baby blues peering right into your soul. That made you smile genuinely, and you bit your bottom lip attempting not to giggle. 

“Right, and Clara will be just fine.” you clapped your hands together happily. “I’d love to stay and chat but unfortunately for you boys I do have to go unpack my things and then get ready for dinner. Tony absolutely couldn’t wait to hear about my trip so he’s having our weekly dinner out tonight to hear about it.” You grabbed a few of your luggage bags and began walking towards the stairs. “ Also Steve, when you have a moment, can I speak to you privately please?” you asked, any playful tone you had a second ago was gone. 

“Uh yeah sure, I’ll meet you in your room then in 10 minutes?” he replied, confused as to what you needed to tell him that you couldn’t in front of Sam. You gave him a  tight lipped smile and walked past the three men. 

“ Oh and Steve, thanks for bringing your cute friend around. It was an amazing welcome home present, could’ve used a bow though.” you turned your head and in a moment of confidence, winked in Bucky’s direction which caused his face to turn bright red and you smirked to yourself. You always had to make a good first impression. 

You walked into your room and set your bags down and smiled at the familiarity of your surroundings. You took a deep breath and sat down on your bed, going over this conversation in your head you needed to have with Steve. You reached into one of your bags and pulled out a beige manila envelope and you held it in your hands for a moment. You refused to look at it again, you looked at it enough. You glanced down and held your breath as you glanced over the big red words that was plastered on the front, the words that had haunted you for the past month. 

It read, in big red letters:  ** “Y/L/N Y/F/ ** ** N : ** ** Target #1” **


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this and deciding to continue, it means so much! I hope this chapter clears up some of the confusion from the last chapter, but everything is slowly going to be explained. Also this chapter is dialogue heavy and a tad shorter but again it does have a purpose! I do hope you enjoy! xxx T

You looked at the writing again on the folder, writing you have looked at over and over again, and one you couldn’t get out of your mind, no matter how hard you had tried. 

** “Y/L/N Y/F/ ** ** N : ** ** Target #1” **

You read it over again, taking a deep breath. You dared not open the envelope, not again. You were going to wait on that one. You just set the packet down gently on the bed, out of site for now. You pulled one of your luggage bags close to you, and sat down on the floor and began unpacking. Not just your physical clothes, but unpacking this information you possessed. Information you hadn’t known prior, information you SHOULD have known. You knew you had to tell Tony, but doing so wouldn’t be easy not you didn’t want to do it alone, you couldn’t do it alone. That’s why you enlisted help, enlisted the best of the best for this kind of situation. 

"FRIDAY?” you spoke up, clearing your throat. “Can you play the album Sheer Heart Attack by Queen?” You asked the AI system that ran through the compound. 

“Of course, Clara.” the voice responded and your favorite album began playing in your room. You knew you had to calm down and breathe easy to present this not to happy information to Steve. You knew how this would play  out, you knew how he would react.  Hell you knew Steve Rogers like the back of your hand, and that’s why you’re so nervous. Sure, he’s dealt with HYDRA before, especially when it came to one of his friends, but you were still nervous, remembering how it played out the last time. 

“Brighton Rock” was blasting in your room and you bopped your head along to the song, separating your clothes into laundry piles, not only to actually wash your clothes, but to distract you from the damaging information sitting a few feet away from you on your bed. You were so lost in thought and a jam session, that you missed the gentle knock that was coming from your door. 

You were sat on the floor, now double checking you had put everything in the correct wash piles when you heard a gentle chuckle come from behind you. You were startled and jumped up, a squeak leaving your throat. You quickly turned around to see who the culprit was and your face softened once you saw it was indeed Steve. 

“How long have you been in here?” You asked embarrassed as you remembered you were fully singing along to the music. 

“Just long enough for one performance. Encore soon though?” Steve teased as he walked over to the only clean spot in your room. He pulled out the chair in front of your desk and sat down and looked around the room. “Hurricane Clara hit I see. She was a category 5.” 

You nodded in agreement and smiled wide as you stood up. “Definitely a weapon of mass destruction for sure.” You laughed as you walked to your bed, sitting next to the envelope. The two of you spent the next few moments in a comfortable silence as you listened to the music which still continued to play, and you noticed Steve look around your room. 

“You made quite the impression on Bucky today for sure.” Steve said as he turned to face you. “I haven’t seen him turn that shade of red since...well since he once took a girl out to dinner and she rubbed his knee at dinner!” Steve smiled fondly at the memory. “She brought a friend so Buck and I could double date that night. Her friend was, nice. But she was more interested in the waiter than me.” Steve shrugged his shoulders and laughed softly. 

“Well she lucked out. A true catch you are Steve Rogers.” you winked as you playfully kicked his shin with your foot playfully. 

Steve shook his head and huffed out of his nose. “Yeah I guess I am.  So what did you need to talk to me about?” he asked in his Captain America voice. You took a deep breath, grabbing the envelope next to you, clutching onto it.

“While I was in London, I met someone.” You began and looked up at Steve and saw him frown slightly. You rolled your eyes grinning. “Not like that weirdo. Someone I saw that was on SHIELD’s HYDRA wanted list.  Gregio Sharpe.” you explained and moved your eyes down to the floor. “I knew this guy liked to move about so I thought I could try to get close to him...” you looked up at Steve this time, and saw he was clenching his jaw. He didn’t say anything or make any noises so you took it as a sign to continue. 

“So, I decided right then and there to make it a solo undercover mission. Dressed up, put on a red wig I found in a shop, which, as an FYI I looked amazing in, and faked a French accent and disguised myself as a French tourist named Cosette.” You went on and huffed a laugh at yourself, still not believing you used the name of a character from your favorite book. “Anyway, I got close to him, spent 2 weeks with him. Getting close to him, and he began telling me everything. Usually when he was drunk but nevertheless. One night, he took me to the flat he was renting out. He and the others were doubling it up between a sleep space and a headquarters of sorts. But that night, he told them leave so he had it all to himself.”

“YOU WENT WITH HIM ALONE?! Clara are you insane? You could’ve gotten yourself killed. You didn’t even BOTHER to let any of us know what you were up too? We could’ve helped!” Steve all but screamed at you, standing up. 

“I KNOW! But he was trusting me and I knew I could get something out of him.” You yelled back, causing Steve to huff as he sat back down, running his fingers through his hair. “That night I slipped some sleeping pills into his drinks, so by the time we got to his flat, all it took was him relaxing on the couch and he fell into a deep sleep. That’s when I got these.” You looked Steve in the eye cockily raising an eyebrow as you held up the manila envelope and a red  flashdrive . “On the  flashdrive is a copy of all the information on  Gregio’s computer. I put a protection on it so it couldn’t be traced.” You explained as you pushed both the drive and envelope into Steve’s hands.

“The information on that drive is information on  Gregio , his fellow HYDRA agents, future missions, projects...” you took a deep breath and looked at him directly. “current targets.” Steve tore open the envelope and took the papers out and began reading. 

You walked over to him and sat on the floor next to him, resting yourself on your knees so you could see the papers as he was looking. “See that girl? That’s Y/F/N Y/L/N, currently HYDRA’s biggest target. Her father was working on a serum similar to yours, and she was injected with it when she was three years old as a way to stop an illness from forming and spreading inside her.” you started, refusing to now look up at Steve, instead choosing to focus on your door. 

Steve was flipping through the papers skimming the black words on the white paper. “Anyway, the serum worked and the girl is now twenty-four and healthy. Very healthy actually.” you fake laughed but Steve didn’t notice. “The serum didn’t work like it did for you though, the formula was altered drastically. Different particles, different genetic coding. But, Y/N’s father was the only person who knew the formula and how to recreate it. He kept experimenting and engineering it until it worked.  But, her father didn’t create it for HYDRA or any government plans, he created it to save his daughter. In doing so, that put him in the middle of HYDRA’s radar. One night, they raided his home and demanded the formula. The man didn’t give up the formula, not giving them the location of where he hid it, so the HYDRA agent’s shot him in his own home, with Y/N still in the house...” you concluded, trying not to let a tear escape your eye. You sniffled and ran a finger through your colored hair. 

“ Anyway in this file, is all the possible information HYDRA can have on Y/N. Her age, possible locations, possible jobs, arguments of whether she changed her name or not and what she possibly looks like now with the help of digital aging programs.” you told him as you flipped and showed Steve a picture of a familiar  computer generated picture. He looked at it and squinted, as if he was trying to place his finger on something in it. 

“It says here that she died in a car accident the winter following her  fathers death, was with her foster family.” Steve retorted to you and you laughed whole heartedly at that. 

“Yeah that’s what I thought too but I know for a fact she’s not dead.”

Steve looked at you oddly, confused at what you were saying. “Clara, even if Y/N is alive, we have no way of even knowing where she is, and looking for her could put us and her in danger. Even if we wanted to help her, we have no idea who she even is, she could be dangerous. She might’ve changed her name after that and more than likely she fled the country. There would be no safe or proper way to protect this girl.”

That got you and you stood up and looked Steve dead in the eye, face unfaltering. “That’s just  it Steve, I know where Y/N is.” You took a shaky breath, folding your hands in front of you, not looking away from Steve, about to let it out and braced yourself for the aftermath of what’s to come. Your world is about to change and you will deal with it with Steve, the one person you trusted more than anyone else. 

“Steve...that  twenty-four year old girl with the serum? That’s me. My father created the serum for me. Y/F/N Y/L/N is my real name...”


End file.
